Last weekend was Easter Weekend.
Last weekend was also the most important national holiday in Rwanda: Commemoration Day. Rwanda remembered the genocide. The holiday actually started a whole week of remembering. This week, almost all fun facilities - like tennis courts, cinemas, etc. - are closed. It is of utmost importance for the Rwanda peoples to be reminded that they are ONE nation. Quite in contrast to what colonial powers made them believe, and what propaganda of some fundamental groups communicated in the past.
Some days before the Commemoration Day we visited the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre. It was one of the most gripping memorial visits I had in my live so far. I already entered with mixed feelings, not knowing what awaits me. I had seen the movie "Hotel of Rwanda" some months ago, so I was prepared for the worst. However, it got even way worse. After about 90 min I left, only after shedding many tears.
The Memorial Centre starts with a short history of the country. You learn that it were actual the Germans who were the first colonial powers of Rwanda (1895-1916). That surprised me, as I did not hear much about the German history related to colonialism in school, definitely not about us being involved in Rwanda.
After World War I the Belgiums took over from the Germans. They started distinguishing the Rwandees, grouping them into three "ethnic" groups: The Hutus (about 85% of the population), the Tutsis (14%) and the Twa (1%), and prefering one group over the others. The distinction was made based on race theory: According to it, humanity is to be divided into different "races", some being superior to others. Hitler's thinking was one result of this theory.
This colonial oppression lasted until 1962, when Rwanda finally gained freedom and independence. But the damage was done and the foundation for civil war, the artificial grouping of the peoples and the preference of one over the other, was laid.
The genocide itself was well prepared, with lists of where the Tutsis live. It all started on April 6th, 1994, when the plane with the Rwanda president in it was shot down when approaching the Kigali airport. It was the gun blast for the killing of a million people, who's disadvantage was to belong to a ethnic group that has never really existed but was invented by colonial powers. How sad is that. It makes me go back between furious anger and devastating sadness.
What is also very dissappointing is the role of the international community in the process of the events. First of all, the French supported the Hutus for a long time, selling them weapons and training their forces, all of this long into the preparation for the genocide. Second, the UN and the French had troops in the country and region because of brewing conflicts already the years prior to 1994. Despite, the UN decided to pull out and ignore the genocide. Until the end they refused to name it a genocide, which, under international law, would have required them to take measures to stop it. Yet it could have been stopped so easily: The Memorial Centre argues that the number of soldiers who evacuated all internationals from Rwanda alone would have been completely sufficient to stop the violence. But the international community decided to save their buts rather then saving a million people. How sad is that. It makes me go back between furious anger and devastating sadness.
The killing continued for 100 days, until Kagame, a Tutsi who then was a general in the neighborhood country Uganda, finished his counter-strike of invading Rwanda and taking control of Kigali.
Meanwhile the French established a "safe corridor", extending from Kigali in the middle of Rwanda to the border to Kongo in the west. Though this corridor relieved many, it also gave many of the murders the opportunity to leave into Kongo. Again, the French had their hands in injustice.
Back to my visit and impressions at the memorial centre: There are some quite stark incidents displayed. You can actually see video clips of Hutus killing Tutsis with machetes - real incidents. You see pictures of wounded and mutilated people. You hear stories of victims and relatives of murdered family members. All this quite drastic and horrific.
The climax of the experience however, comes with the last room in all of the memorial centre. It is a dark one, round in shape, perhaps 5 meters in diameter. The only light comes from six showcases , each about 2m wide and 1m deep, that are placed around the room. As you enter the room you can already feel a weigh down atmosphere. Approaching the glass showcases you stop horrified: They are full with human skulls and bones. Six showcases, three of them with stacks of bones, three of them with skulls. The total is 106 skulls!!! You realize: You actually stepped into a mass grave.
No anger anymore. Only overwhelming, depressing sadness. Your natural tendency is to want to flea this room as you stand in the middle of 106 human remains. Despite this tendency I decided to force myself to face the drama of it...
Exiting this intense room, there is a quote displayed, which, in my eyes, says a lot. It goes like this:
"When they said ´Never again´ after the Holocaust, was it meant for some people and not for others?"
Apollon Kabahizi
This week is commemoration week - Rwanda remembering the genocide and that they, really, are ONE peoples, despite what others wanted them to believe.
Last weekend was Easter, the world wide memorial weekend that speaks so loudly about grace, forgiveness, redemption and hope. In order to see the wounds heal, Rwanda needs all of this more then anything else. I am so happy to see a country and it's peoples having traveled this road already quite a distance, Christians and churches being no small contributors to the progress. It is by grace Rwanda is where it is today.
